Hobe Sound to Lake Boca Raton

We left Hobe Sound at 0715 after a very quiet night at anchor.  In less than an hour, we found ourselves moving into increasingly urbanized portions of the ICW.

All was going fine until we got to the Lake Worth Inlet.  Just south of the Riviera Bridge several dredgers were hard at work and they blocked much of the charted channel.  Additionally, boat traffic was heavy coming from several directions as both the Riviera Beach Yacht Club and New Port Cove Marina channels entered the ICW where the dredgers were at work.  A red drop buoy only 20 feet from one dredger defined the channel so getting by would be a tight squeeze and required a sharp turn to get back into the main channel.  As we were making our approach, a fast moving powerboat attempted to beat us through the narrow gap between the dredger and drop buoy.  This forced us to go to the right of the bouy to avoid a collison.  We immediately ran aground.  Fortunately, we were moving very slow when we touched bottom and we were able to eventually dislodge ourselves and get back into the ICW channel. Lesson learned:  hold your course and let the other fellow go aground.

Boca Raton Resort and Club

We made some interesting observations on our way.  Shortly after our depature, we came across a fellow heading out fishing.  Tagging long on top of his outboard engine was a pelican.  This guy must be a great fisherman and probably shares what he catches with the local birds.

Pelican on Outboard

Shortly after our grounding, we entered the Port of Palm Beach where numerous mega yachts were harbored.  We found ourselves following a 101 foot, motor yacht, Sea Breeze.  She was cruising at a speed that matched ours and we figured she'd clear a good path for us down the ICW.  So, we just followed along watching the guests lounging in the aft and being tended to by the stewards. Additionally, the professional captain was timing his journey to make the bridge openings without having to loiter while waiting for an opening.  We were making great time and didn't have to worry about other traffic so long as we followed Sea Breeze. 

We were a bit surprised to discover Sea Breeze failed to properly adjust her speed to arrive at a bridge in time to make a smooth passage.  The bridge closed minutes before we arrived and the next opening was 30 minutes later.  Even more surprising was watching Sea Breeze make a pivot turn and start heading towards us as she began to retrace her route back to Palm Beach.  We pulled off the main channel to let her pass and noticed something unusual.  Sea Breeze was flying the Cayman Island national flag on her stern but also flew a New York Yacht Club burgee on her bow.  Additionally, she had both the NYYC and US Congressional burgees painted on her hull.  A Google search revealed Sea Breeze had been sold to a US citizen.  Looks like we might have another member of the US Congress who owns a yacht registered in the Cayman Islands.



There were already 10 sailboats and one trawler anchored at the lake's north end and along the eastern shore when we arrived.  So, we knew there was a way in to anchor.  We followed the directions for entering the lake as described in a published cruising guide and discovered our keel was rapidly closing in on the lake's bottom.  Simultaneously, we heard the voice of a captain on a catamaran warning us that we were in very shallow water and would soon run aground.  We decided to back out to the main channel and try another approach.

We noticed a large motor yacht (80 footer) docked along the northern shore and figured there had to be deep water closer to the shoreline.  We found a narrow 8 foot deep channel running about 20 feet off the shoreline and made our way into a 10 foot deep pocket which we shared with two other sailboats.  It was a tight fit but we swung on our anchors in unison and the winds/current were very light.  So, we had a very peaceful night.  Once again, the Rocna anchor set quickly and held.

Nine hours at the wheel, 18 bridge openings, one grounding and a little challenge in getting into anchor made it a long but interesting day.